Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: image006  NPL 473  Advanced Workshop in Nonprofit Leadership


Term:  Fall 2014

Instructor:     Tony Filipovitch, 507-388-2264 (home)

Office Hours:  I check my e-mail daily (usually several times during the day), and have an answering machine on my home phone. There is no reason to flounder around, unsure of what “he wants” or confused about what you are doing; and even if everything is going fine with the coursework, there is more to learning than completing the assignments.  I encourage you to visit me, in person or at a distance by phone or e-mail, many times during the course.

Text:

Worth, Michael.  2014.  Nonprofit Management Principles and Practices,3rd  Ed. 

(You may use the 2nd Edition of this text, if you already have that copy; chapters from that edition are listed in parentheses for each week in the Calendar below.)

Course Overview:

This workshop is designed to be the cumulative experience in the undergraduate certificate in nonprofit leadership.  It will bring together the experience, education, and personal depth you have in the third sector.  This will ensure a comprehensive array of knowledge, designed to prepare you to serve as leaders within the community and, specifically, nonprofit agencies.

Learning Outcomes:

Students will demonstrate competency in knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to function in the following areas:

·       Gathering Resources

·       Fiscal Management

·       People Management

·       Managing Operations

For details, click here

Requirements:

In order to effectively address the competency areas, this course will combine (online) classroom and field projects.  Students are expected to actively participate and contribute positively to the learning process.

 

1. Readings:

Students are required to read and understand the chapter(s) assigned at the beginning of each topic. There will not be any tests or quizzes over the material in the readings; rather, you will demonstrate how well you have understood the readings through your weekly essays.

 

2. Weekly Essay & Class Discussion:

Since we do not meet as a class, the closest thing we have to this is the Discussion tab on D2L.  I will pose a question to start out the discussion, and each student must

·       Report on a professional journal article related to the discussion question,

·       Respond reflectively to the discussion question, and

·       Respond to at least one posting by a classmate to the discussion question.

For more information, click here.

 

3. Service Learning:

Each student will identify a nonprofit organization with which to volunteer over the course of the semester.  For more information, click here

 

4. Exercises

Throughout the course, I will assign exercises, sometimes to each of you individually, sometimes to all of you as a group, to give you the opportunity to practice the skills that you are learning about.  Each exercise will contain its own instructions and deadlines.

 

Course Calendar

Due date

Topic

Reading

Exercises

8/28

Introduction

 

Introduce yourself on discussion board

 

Gathering Resources

 

 

9/4

Designing & Managing the Fundraising Program; “Next-Gen Donors” (in D2L Contents)

Ch. 11 (Ch. 11 in 2nd Ed.)

 

9/11

 Managing the Challenges of Government Contracts & “Dark Side to Government Support” (D2L “Contents”)

Ch. 13 (Ch.12)

 

9/18

Enterprise Strategies for Generating Revenue 

Ch. 12 (Ch.16)

9/25

“Managing in For-Profits’ Shadow” (D2L); “Louvre, Inc.” (Time Magazine, 8/11/08), “Social Entrepreneurs” & “Jolt for Charity” (in D2L Contents)

Ch. 17

“Save the Theater”

(in D2L Course Contents)

 

Financial Management

 

 

10/2

Financial Accounting & Financial Management

Calculating financial ratios

Ch. 14 (Ch. 13)

 

10/9

           (Financial Accounting, cont.)

 

Financial Accounting

10/16

Management Accounting & Investment Decisions

 

 

 

People Management

 

 

10/23

Finding the Ones You Want, Keeping the Ones You Need

Ch. 9

(Ch. 9)

 

10/30

Compensation & Rewards; Training Volunteers and Employees

 

 

11/6

Designing and Managing Volunteer Programs & Keeping the Community Involved:  Recruiting & Retaining Volunteers

 

Managing Volunteers

 

Managing Operations

 

 

11/13

Marketing for Nonprofit Managers

Ch. 10 (Ch. 10)

 

11/20

Needs Assessment, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Nonprofit Organizations & Outcome Assessment and Program Evaluation

“Social Return on Investment” (in D2L Course Content)

Ch. 6

(Ch. 6)

 

11/26

Risk Management

“Prove it!” (in D2L)

12/8

Service learning report due; course evaluation due (behind “Surveys” tab on D2L)

Course Expectations:

Attendance & Class Participation:

It is your responsibility to post your responses in a timely fashion, interact with your mentors, and engage in online class activities.  I expect all the work for each week to be posted by Midnight on Thursday of the week listed in the Course Calendar (except for Thanksgiving and Finals weeks).  If there is an emergency which requires you to be away from your computer, please contact me immediately.  I will give partial credit for assignments that come in during the next time period; assignments posted after that will not earn course credit unless there is a prior agreement.  You are paying for this class—make sure to get your “money’s worth.”  Most importantly, this is an excellent foundation of knowledge for future activities, and it is a chance for you to learn, teach, and grow with others.

 

Loss of computer connection or network services are not an excuse for not getting work submitted on time (if you lose your connection, go to another location to do your work—a public library, the ACC, a friend’s computer, etc.)  You can get help with technical problems from the MSUM computer help desk at help@mnsu.edu or go the 3rd floor of the Library. 

Grading:

There are 100 points for the course, divided as follows:

            1) Weekly essays & discussions (10@5 pts.)               50

            2) Exercises/Case Studies (4@ 10 pts.)            40

            3) Final paper—report on service learning        10

The final grade may be based on a curve, but students can expect at least an A if they achieve 90%, a B with 80%, etc.

Other Matters:

All assignments (including discussion) are due on the assigned date.  Partial credit may be given for assignments that are less than one week late, unless other arrangements have been made in advance.

Written reports are expected to be free of grammatical, spelling, and content errors.  They should be submitted in typewritten, standard formats (APA, MLA, URSI Style Sheets).  You must familiarize yourself with the University’s Academic Honesty Policy.  I encourage you to draw on the ideas of others—but you must also identify when you do so (you gain “brownie points” for citing the work of others!).  Plagiarism is a serious breach of academic behavior and will result in an F for the course.

I will help you in whatever manner humanly possible.  However, once the semester is over, there is not a great deal I can do.  If there is something that you don’t understand, are having problems with, or need help on, please get in touch with me as early as possible.

Every attempt will be made to accommodate qualified students with disabilities.  If you area student with a documented disability, please contact us as early in the semester as possible to discuss the necessary accommodations, and/or contact the Disability Services Office at 507-389-2825 (V) or 1-800-627-3529 (MRS/TTY).

 

Finally, before the first class please post a message to the “Introductions” discussion board on D2L.  Please introduce yourself in the posting, let us know what your goals are in this course, and any special experiences/skills/interests you will be bringing to the group.

 

Bibliography

There are a number of interesting and useful books and articles that might help you dig deeper into the issues raised in this course.  The link above takes you to a list of some of my favorites.  


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MSU

© 2003 A.J.Filipovitch
Revised 23 August 2014